Pictures

I am so happy that we decided to take pictures of our kids instead of buying the pictures that the school took of them.  What do you think?  Did we make the right choice?

Please sir, I want some ... more?

After being snowed in with about 30 inches of snow, we dug out our cars and were enjoying the fact that schools were canceled and Clay didn't have to work.  It seemed like life was getting back to normal.  However, on Tuesday, we had blizzard conditions and it snowed about 15 more inches.  This time, it was windy and we weren't able to play in it until today.  Here are some pictures of MORE snow.

This is our deck on Wednesday night after a day of snow and wind.

On Thursday (today) we shoveled the snow off of our deck and found this guy under all that snow.

  He didn't help much.

These were causing water to leak in between our sliding door, so we had to knock them down.

Here are some more outside our front door.  "Those icicles have been known to kill people."

Here is a picture of our neighborhood and the neighbors digging their cars out AGAIN!  To the left of the tree, you can just barely see the opening to the igloo that we started.  The second storm filled it in a little.

Clay is such a hard worker.  He cleared the snow in front of our house, our car, our deck, the neighbor's cars, a path to the garbage can, and a fire hydrant.  Dallan and I helped, but I think he did twice as much as we did.

We are crossing our fingers and hoping that the roof will not cave in with the weight of the snow.

Here is our sweetie keeping warm.

Clay and Dallan also had fun jumping off the top of our deck and landing in the snow below.  In some areas out back (because of the wind and the snow drifts) the snow went up to my chest, so it was a soft landing and pretty safe.  I didn't jump because I wasn't as brave.

Blizzard Man: "Check my style out"

Friday, February 5, 2010 was amazing!  It was a record snowfall for the DC area.  We got about 30 inches of snow and we are loving it.  It started snowing around 10:30am on Friday and didn't stop until around 5:00 pm on Saturday!  The schools and businesses closed early on Friday to prepare for this storm.  By Friday evening, the whole area was like a ghost town.  They (the man) declared a state of emergency, so even if we wanted to, we were not allowed on the roads.  That was fine with us because we were content to hang out at home, watch the storm, watch movies, eat, play games, and even put together a big puzzle. 

Sunday was a neat experience because we got to witness the neighborhood come together.  We bundled up in our snow gear and intended to play in the snow, but quickly realized that there was a lot of work to do.  It was fun to see practically every single neighbor outside taking pictures and video and helping each other dig our cars out.  It didn't feel like work because it was so fun.  The kids played on the mounds of piled up snow that the plows left behind while the adults shoveled.  We enjoyed experienceing the opportunity to give and receive service on the sabbath.  It was very memorable!

This is our deck.  Dallan was 'volun-told' to jump off of our kitchen chair into the snow so that we could see how deep the snow was.

Look close at the snow on top of our 'for sale' sign.

This is right outside out front door.  This was placed a couple of hours before the snow stopped falling

This is Sunday morning when we slid down our front steps.  This is as far as our screen door would open.

The snow plows had already come through before the storm was over.

The plows pushed piles of snow into the corners.  Dal and Leah are sitting in a pile about 8 feet off the ground.  That pile got even higher after we added to it by digging out our cars.

Ryan was happy just walking around making little trails, but I don't think he actually reached the ground.

This is our Yukon with extra frosting.

This is our Yukon with our house in the background.  It took us about 4 hours to dig out our Yukon plus 3 of the neighbors cars.

Thursday night, before the storm, we bought a Nissan Altima.  So here is a picture of our new car.  What do you think?

This is Leah trying to walk on the sidewalk.  It was a little hard to find.

This is Ryan trying to look tough.  It doesn't work very well when you are wearing a full body snowsuit and holding a sippy cup.

On Christmas Day in the Morning

Our Christmas was unplanned.  We intended on visiting Nevada from Dec 21-Jan 6, but had to cancel.  It was a tough decision, but after prayer and consideration, we all agreed that we needed to stay home.  We were packed and had already spent time at the airport.  When the flight was canceled and there was little hope in getting a different flight before Christmas, we went home.  We rented a car and made plans to drive, but ultimately decided against that as well.  So-my parents hurried and shipped us all of the gifts that I had already shipped to them (yes-we paid for shipping twice-ugh!) and we got them just in time.  It was still great.  We enjoyed spending time together and had a really fun week.  Clay still has the time off, so it has been such a fun and relaxing week and will be next week too.  We still had snow from the snowstorm that we had a week before (20 inches!), so we have been playing in the snow.  The snow is almost gone now, though.  The kids were pretty worried about not getting gifts since there were no gifts under our tree.  They were extra excited on Christmas morning to see presents.  On Christmas eve Leah said that Santa was going to bring us a new car since we crashed our old one.  Boy do I wish that would have been true.  ha ha.
On Christmas eve, we enjoyed the festival of lights at the temple and even watched "Mr Kreuger's Christmas".  Boy, was that a cheesy movie.  I forgot.  Oh well, it was fun.  This year we are especially grateful for simple things like car heaters, a plate of cookies, generous ward members, considerate neighbors, phone calls, etc.  The list goes on.  On Christmas Day, I came down with the flu, but no worries, Clay takes great care of me.  I am doing better and am anxious to have another fun week with Clay home.  We missed family, but we were not sad...who could be sad this time of year?  We will plan a trip in the summer and will be better prepared for obstacles.
Sorry-no pictures.  I am frustrated that I didn't take the time to grab the camera.  Leah was hilarious when she woke up.  I had sat on her bed and told her that it was time to get up...she didn't move.  Then I said "it's Christmas" and she sat up so quick that it scared me.  She also said something so loud and it made Clay and I laugh.  We don't know what she said...it was probably something from her dream.  Funny!

Kasey is home!

We are so lucky to be close to Kasey's mission!  Kasey got released from his mission in Philadelphia on Dec7.  Mom and dad had the opportunity to pick him up and spend a few days with him.  We had intended to meet up with them in South Philly, but after a recent car accident, we weren't able to.  We are so thankful that they decided to come here!!!   It was so great to have company and see them for a little while.  We hadn't seen Kasey in 3 years.  Our kids hadn't seen the grandparents in 3 years either.  It was such a nice visit.  We really enjoyed each others company and also had a nice lunch.  We desperately tried to convert dad from In-N-Out to Five Guys. :)  Kasey was in shock a little bit from leaving the mission field, but that is understandable.  He's got some sinnin' to do.  Just kidding! They are on their way back to the hotel now and we are so anxious to see them and the rest of our family when we visit in a couple of weeks!

We gave them a tour of our mansion.

They are laughing at the story of when I slipped on the ice...I wrote about it in a previous post.

Ryan blocked the picture.  He was so good today and even spoke to mom & dad and Kasey.  He surprised us.

Leah loves her grandparents and Uncle!

I am so glad for the good example Kasey set for Dallan.

Clay was so happy to see his parents and brother.  He really misses his family a lot.  I do too, but I think Clay does more.

Out to lunch!  I am not sure if dad is a convert to five guys or not.  :)

Our first Snow

We love the snow here.  It is nothing like the few times we experienced snow as children.  We look forward to it every year.  This year we were not fully prepared.  Our 2 rear tires are in no shape to drive in snow or ice.  On my way home from a baptism, I lost control of my Yukon.  I slid into a telephone pole and snapped it in half!  Leah and I were in the car and for that moment there were no other cars around.  We are completely safe and feel fine.  We feel blessed that we were not hurt.  I know the Lord protected us. 
At this time we are thankful for our ward for helping us with rides and letting us borrow a vehicle until we figure out what to do about our Yukon.  We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family that love us and uplift us.
Now-does anyone know a good body shop?

Leah was in the backseat behind the driver side.  Thank Heavens!

You can hardly notice it, right?

If you look close you can see where the telephone pole fell on the top/side of my hood.(in the first picture)

This is our home that we are selling and if everything goes well, we will be moving soon(we will move somewhere nearby).  We will be sad to leave-we have loved living here!

Despite the accident, it is just so beautiful and I still love the snow.  I can't see the snow as anything but beautiful and it gives me such a peaceful feeling...well except when I am crashing into telephone poles.

Thanksgiving

I don't have any pictures to share.  I guess we just forgot to get the camera out.  We had a wonderful holiday!  Clay and Dallan played football in the morning with some ward members while the younger kids and I watched the Parade.  Then we cooked a yummy Thanksgiving dinner with lots of wonderful things.  Everything tasted great and now we are left with lots of leftovers.  I bought my pies and rolls from my favorite place.  We are so fortunate to live in this area where there are so many orchards and markets to choose from.  My favorite is the Lancaster County Dutch Market!  I am there once a week, so it was only natural that I would want to buy my pies from them!  I don't know what I will do when we leave this area.
So that's it, it was a relaxing day and everyone is healthy and happy, so I couldn't ask for anything more.
We are still debating on whether or not we want to decorate our home since we won't be here for Christmas.  Leah doesn't want to go and I have to admit, I really don't want to be away from our home for Christmas.  I am sure we will get over it.  We will look forward to seeing family and it will be great!

Halloween

We did very last minute Halloween celebrations.  None of us cared about it much, so the last minute stuff works well for us.  On Friday we spent the morning with Ryan at Butler's Orchard for his school field trip.  It was really fun and we wished that we could have taken the other kids with us too.  Then we went to help Leah with her costume parade and class party.  That night was our ward Halloween Party and we had a good time.

On Halloween day we went to a baptism and then had to run some errands.  We carved pumpkins in the afternoon and finished just in time to put them on our steps and send the kids out to trick-or-treat.  Our complex is perfect for trick-or-treating and we were so lucky this year because Dallan took Leah and Ryan for us.  Clay and I enjoyed watching a scary movie and passing out candy to the few neighborhood kids that actually go door-to-door.  These days there are so many kids that go to places of business or drive to a rich neighborhood and their loss is our gain.  Since we are among the few who like to stick with our neighborhood, we are the recipients of some major generosity.  Of course, we return the favor and give out huge handfuls of candy to the kids who come here.  It was an easy night and we all had a great time!

Picking  a pumpkin!

Hay ride

Slide

Photo op

rubber ducky derby

oooooo

Ryan loved this maze

So much that he threw a tantrum when we tried to leave

Mario

Meow

Gangsta

Gotta represent